Degree Conferred

Students electing this program through the Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, with the collaboration and support of the Linguistics Program and the Center for Language Science, will earn a degree with a dual-title at the PhD level in Spanish with a dual-title in Language Science. A graduate student obtaining this dual-degree will have the skills and knowledge to bring the methods and theories of linguistics, psycholinguistics, and cognitive neuroscience to bear on central issues in Spanish.

Program Description

A dual-title degree program in Spanish and Language Science will prepare students to combine the theoretical and methodological approaches of several disciplines in order to contribute to research in the rapidly growing area of Language Science. This inherently interdisciplinary field draws on linguistics, psychology, speech-language pathology, and cognitive neuroscience, as well as other disciplines, to address both basic and applied research questions in such areas as first and second language acquisition, developmental and acquired language disorders, literacy, and language pedagogy. Dual-title degree students will receive interdisciplinary training that will enable them to communicate and collaborate productively with a wide range of colleagues across traditional discipline boundaries. Such training will open up new employment opportunities for students and give them the tools to foster a thriving interdisciplinary culture in their own future students. The dual-title program will facilitate the formation of a cross-disciplinary network of peers for participating students as part of their professional development.

Requirements for the Dual-Title in Spanish and Language Science

The doctoral degree in Spanish and Language Science is awarded only to students who are admitted to the Spanish doctoral program and admitted to the dual-title degree in Language Science (click here to obtain APPLICATION FORM). The minimum course requirements for the dual-title Ph.D. degree in the Spanish and Language Science, in addition to the Spanish Program requirements, are as follows:

Particular courses may satisfy both the Spanish requirements and those in the Language Science program. Final course selection is determined by the student in consultation with the dual-title program advisors and the major program advisors. Students who already hold a master’s degree from another institution may petition to have equivalent course credits accepted.

Candidacy

In order to be admitted to doctoral candidacy in the dual-title degree program, students will take a candidacy examination that is administered by the major program. A single candidacy examination will contain both elements of the Spanish program and the dual-title offering. For the Ph.D. student, the examination may be given after at least 18 credits have been earned in graduate courses beyond the baccalaureate; it must be taken within three semesters (summer sessions do not count) of entry into the doctoral program. With careful planning and consultation, in some cases it may be possible to complete all requirements for both Spanish and Language Science without incurring any delays. However, it is possible that the dual-title degree student may require an additional semester or more to fulfill requirements for the major program and dual-title program; therefore, the candidacy examination may be delayed. The candidacy committee will determine whether an additional semester is warranted on a case-by-case basis.

In addition to the candidacy examination, the student will be required to present a portfolio of work in Spanish Language Science to their committee. Such a portfolio would include a statement of the student’s interdisciplinary research interests, a plan of future study, and samples of writing that indicate the student’s work in Language Science. The candidacy examination committee will be composed of faculty from the major program, as well as at least one faculty member affiliated with Language Science. The designated Language Science faculty member may be appointed in the student's major program, but he or she may also hold a formal appointment with Linguistics. The Language Science member will participate in constructing and grading candidacy examination questions in the area of Language Science.

Committee Composition

The doctoral committee of a Ph.D. dual-title degree student must include a minimum of four faculty members, i.e., the chair and at least three additional members all of whom must be members of the Graduate Faculty. The committee must include at least one member of the Language Science graduate faculty. The chair of the committee is typically a member of both Spanish and Language Science, however, if the chair of the committee representing Spanish is not also a member of the graduate faculty in Language Science, then the member of the committee representing Language Science should be appointed as Co-Chair.

Comprehensive Exam

At the end of the coursework, candidates for the dual-title doctoral degree in Spanish and Language Science will be required to pass an oral comprehensive examination based on their thesis proposal and area of specialization in Spanish, while reflecting their dual-title degree curriculum. The Language Science program representative on the student’s doctoral committee must have input into the development of and participate in the evaluation of the comprehensive examination.

Dissertation and Dissertation Defense

Ph.D. students enrolled in the dual-title degree program are required to write and orally defend a dissertation on a topic that reflects their original research. A dissertation on a topic related to Language Science is required for a dual-title Ph.D. degree in Language Science.

Spanish and Language Science Courses to Fulfill Requirements

Many existing Penn State courses are relevant and appropriate for Language Science students. The following list offers examples of courses that could contribute toward a student's individualized doctoral program. A number of the courses could fulfill coursework requirements (e.g., research methods/statistics). The listing is organized by program.